Page:The council of seven.djvu/17

 The fallibility of the newspaper press was still her hope. But while he talked as only he could, it seemed an act of barbarism to open the case so crudely. While his fancy and his humor played upon a hundred things how could one sidetrack him with such a doubt? There was some absurd mistake. High faith in this hero bade her take care.

Almost before she knew that she had let a precious moment go, she found herself bitterly rueing the fact. One of his odd, quick, unforeseen turns brought her up dead against an impasse she would have given much to avoid.

Plunging an impetuous hand in his coat, he suddenly produced a half sheet of notepaper, and tossed it over the table into her lap. "High time," he laughed, "we let the dear old Morning Post into our secret de Polichinelle."

She unfolded the slip of paper and read with a pang of dismay:

An engagement is announced between John Endor, only son of the late Myles Endor, Wyndham, Middleshire, and Lady Elizabeth Endor, and Helen Mary, eldest daughter of James Lee Sholto and Mrs. Sholto of Longmore, Richmond, Virginia, U. S. A.

"Will it meet the case?" The question was whimsically direct, even without the enforcement of his amused eyes.

The blood burned slowly vivid in her face. Happily